Fantasia International Film Festival 2025 – Writer/director Brock Bodell‘s Hellcat works best the less the audience knows about it prior to a first viewing. The movie is filled with nail-biting twists and turns. Any spoilers should be avoided prior to viewing. Bodwell crafted quite a unique feature that shakes up an otherwise well-worn horror subgenre.
The film stars Dakota Gorman in a stellar performance as Lena. She wakes up in a moving camping trailer with a badly infected wound. She can’t remember how or why she ended up in the trailer or how she acquired the wound. Those details do come later in the film, but it’s quite the journey until that point. Todd Terry stars alongside Gorman as Clive, the driver. Like Lena’s story, Clive’s true intentions remain unknown to viewers initially. Bodwell withholds a lot of the character details from the audience at first but slowly sprinkles more clues and details along the ride, and a heck of a ride it is.
There’s plenty that works well in this film, especially Bodwell’s ability to craft suspense. The film starts in the middle of Lena’s predicament, trapped in the trailer. Soon after, she hears Clive’s voice but doesn’t see him until much later. Meanwhile, Bodwell constantly zooms in on a menacing mounted wolf head, as if the wolf speaks directly to Lena. It’s a simple, yet effective image that gives clues to the film’s ending and reveal. The wolf head, with its fangs and open mouth, hints that maybe Clive has sinister intentions, since his voice is associated with that image. Yet, nothing in this film is what it initially seems.
Not only does Lena need to plot her escape, but she has to deal with a rapidly spreading infection, which shows as a black, vein-like wound creeping along her body. She’s also pregnant. While little is known about the characters at first, Bodwell slowly offers more details. For instance, Lena doesn’t exactly have a great relationship with her father, and her mother is deceased. Clive is estranged from his daughter, maybe because he believes in one too many conspiracy theories. It’s riveting to watch these characters learn more and more about each other through conversations. All the while, Bodwell keeps viewers guessing as to whether or not Clive can be trusted, even though he reassures Lena that he wants to help her and treat her infection. Even the source, nature, and effects of the infection are kept from viewers, until the film’s last act.
The film ramps up to a pulse-pounding ending. Lena’s eventual character arc, including a major reveal, may not work for every viewer, but the clues are there fairly early in the film. Bodwell also does something with a well-known horror monster/subgenre that I don’t think we’ve seen before, and as already stated, Gorman really carries this film, especially in scenes where she twists and contorts her body, fighting off the infection.
Hellcat is a wild and jolting ride. The feature never takes its foot off the peddle, and it’s filled with nerve-jangling suspense. Gorman especially throws herself into the lead performance. Just avoid any spoilers about the film, if possible, prior to a first viewing.
